Can anyone tell me the difference between the following in data mining? I am taking a class this semester and the professor is using the terms so frequently, I don't know what these mean anymore.
- Data point
- attribute
- feature
$\begingroup$ $\endgroup$
2 
- $\begingroup$ Have your asked your professor? $\endgroup$Raphael– Raphael2013-02-08 08:39:22 +00:00Commented Feb 8, 2013 at 8:39
- $\begingroup$ @Raphael I did not. The office hours are not until next Thursday. $\endgroup$Sid– Sid2013-02-08 15:50:37 +00:00Commented Feb 8, 2013 at 15:50
Add a comment |
1 Answer
$\begingroup$ $\endgroup$
An attribute is usually synonymous with feature, both of which refer to a single dimension. A data point probably refers to a complete record. That is, a data point is a collection of features.
For example, imagine we have a bunch of data on people and we want to classify each one as being male or female. Specifically, for each person (record), we have the following attributes (features): height, weight, and eye color. A data point would be one person's 3-dimensional record (e.g. [74in, 200lbs, brown] or [61, 125, blue]).
